I listen to podcasts every day. It's a great way to relax and I usually listen during my lunchtime walk. Just to clear my head (and secretly fill it with inspiration).
Although I listen to podcasts on a variety of topics, in this newsletter I will limit myself to one of my favourites, which is all about photography. The Candid Frame podcast by Ibarionex Perello.
In this podcast, which comes out about every 2 weeks, Ibarionex talks to a photographer for about an hour. There are already more than 600 episodes, which you can listen to via Spotify or The Candid Frame app.
In one of his most recent episodes, with the photographer Anouk Krantz, a certain comment from Ibarionex got me thinking.
We often dwell on the pictures we see of other people. Often these are other cultures in which we see how they live their lives.
But even closer, street photography often portrays people with remarkable faces. People who have a striking appearance. That is what stands out.
During this interview with Anouk Krantz, at one point the host Ibarionex explained how he perceived Anouk's photos. Read it carefully and then think about what I said just before about how people are often portrayed.
Copyright photos: Anouk Krantz, spreads from her book American Cowboys
"It's important to understand that when you're photographing people of another community, of another culture, that you have to step away from that thing that makes them exotic to you, because then you're just focussing on what the differences are. But if you can somehow discover what you have in common, that leads you to make images that I think are very universal. That people even though they never have been in that community, they can experience it through the photographs and connect to it as another human being."
Train your gaze – One time I was so intently focused on photographing a couple kissing on a bench, that I didn’t notice a burning trashcan just a bit to their side. I missed the shot completely, the trashcan being too blurry to have a play in the composition, and it’s the one shot I want to go back and redo. Since then, I’ve learned to scan the environment, in rows from left to right, then up and down, to make sure this never happens again. I note the quality of light, the colors around me, and every detail of my surroundings. Burning trashcan, I am ready for you.
That sure is another way of letting people know about the photo you did not take.
If you have a story to tell, please do and write about it. You can read all previous episodes and find a link to the form on the page Un/Taken
That’s it for this week.
Till next time,
DARKROOMSis a weekly photography newsletter, published on Tuesdays. See the archive for more posts & interviews. If this newsletter was shared with you, consider subscribing, or forward to your friends. Please whitelist the newsletter to ensure you never miss it.
Great post. Thanks for the recommendations. I'd heard of The Candid Frame a while back but kind of forgot it...